OMC F1-V8 racing by Charlie Strang
USF1 United States Formula One
The when, where, who and why of the V-8 racing circuit will all be found in the following story.
When we at OMC were developing a V-8 “fishing motor”, circa 1980, we decided to build a racing version of it to replace our Wankel outboards which had been barred from most European races.
Since there were few places to race a 3-1/2 liter outboard in the USA at that time (other than enduros) we decided to race them primarily in Europe. In UIM, the 3-1/2 liters put the V-8 into class OZ (unlimited displacement). At a meeting in Europe the UIM decided OZ would henceforth be known as Formula One. In 1981 the John Player tobacco company of England sponsored the John Player World Championship series for Formula One. There were 10 V-8s running there in 1981, plus a number of Merc V-6 engines.
In the fall of 1982 Bob Spalding realized that the V-8s were running faster in competition than the Class X outboard hydro record—so he ran a Kilo on Lake Windermere in his tunnel boat at 139.66 mph. Not long after, Rick Frost—also of England—ran a Kilo in his F-1 tunnel boat at 144.16.
In those days tunnel boat design had not kept up with the available power and we had 4 deaths in 4 months. This led to the development of the safety cockpit—financially sponsored by both OMC and Mercury—which did a fantastic job of reducing risk.
During 1985 OMC’s European operation had a problem with a race promoter who spent ridiculous sums on F-1—about 3.2 million in one summer! As a result, I pulled the plug on F-1 in Europe for 1986.
This incident, plus all we had spent on racing in the factory battles of the 1970s and early 1980s, convinced me we were not getting our money’s worth out of the sport—with top-notch factory teams holding great races in remote locations—and the publicity was zilch.
We then decided to concentrate on racing the V-8s in the USA—where most large outboards were sold—and to try to fund it with sponsor money. In other words, to use other companies’ money to promote our product through racing.
We hired the top sports promotion company in the USA—or maybe the world—to find sponsors for outboard racing. Four months and $600,000 in fees later they told us that outboard racing was of no interest to the public and sponsorship was not to be had.
We decided to try it anyway, following where possible the example set by car racing. OMC’s VP for Marketing, Ron Ingram, and I decided on a USA Formula One circuit with the following points in mind:
1. We would have a series of 6 to 8 races in the USA, open to drivers from all over the world.
2. It would be an F-1 series with the only limitation being that the engines must be available to anyone on the open market—to avoid the expensive and promotionally useless factory competition of the past. I think we set the required number of engines produced at 50. (This led to an interesting and even amusing lawsuit with Mercury.)
3. Our races would only be held at metropolitan locations with good press facilities.
4. The race would always be held in conjunction with existing major waterfront shows or events to insure a maximum crowd on race days.
5. We would have large prize purses, never before seen in boat racing, to excite the media—and the teams.
We then met with representatives of ABC, NBC and CBS to determine the ideal format. The networks designed a one-hour format for ideal TV coverage. This was the source of the 45 minute feature event—still used today at times.
We found a great series sponsor in Champion Spark Plug who regularly brought their distributors and dealers to the races and who also promoted the F-1 races in their ads. OMC also put much money into each race to make it a top-notch event worthy of media attention.
If I remember rightly, we started the US F-1 series in 1986—with over $600,000 in prize money for 7 races. We had plenty of European teams and plenty of US entrants. Probably the top event each year was Pittsburgh—where the police had a real job keeping the huge crowds in safe viewing areas.
The US F-1 series went on for about 4 years with all the top US and European F-1 drivers involved. There were always a few Mercs in the field, but only Bill Seebold was ever competitive—particularly on the shorter courses where the big V-8 boats had a bit more difficulty on the turns. The speeds were high—on the 1-1/2 mile course at Beaumont, Texas, Ben Robertson set a lap speed record of 141.33 mph. They were great races.
We thought it was a great series—as did the teams and the boating press—but the public interest did not warrant the cost. The TV networks finally told us that the F-1 events were great—but that boat racing simply could not draw enough attention to create adequate advertising income for the networks. As I recall, they commented that car racing could attract huge followings because, at that time, about 150 million Americans had cars and could relate to them—while only about 10 million Americans had boats.
At any rate, it became very clear that what was probably the best outboard racing circuit of all time could not justify its cost in terms of promotion, publicity and sales.
So – in 1990 I pulled the plug on the OMC F-1 circuit and we went to putting the money into grass-roots racing by producing the 2, 3 and 4 cylinder engines for OPC and sponsoring activity for those classes.
Now you know why I smile sadly when I hear a would-be promoter telling how he will make millions by turning some boat-racing class into the “next NASCAR”!
The V-8 Johnsons and Evinrudes are long gone. About all that remains on the record books is Bob Wartinger’s 176.586 mph speed record of 1989—with a V-8 on a three-point hydro.
So who did all this? As I recall, from the technical side, Jim Nerstrom handled the racing version of the V-8 in OMC Marine Engineering, where Edgar Rose was OMC’s VP. Gary Garbrecht and Les Calhoun did a great deal of development work and boat testing at Gary’s Second Effort operation in Florida. Jack Leek, OMC’s race boss had a finger in everything every where.
Bob DeGrenier was the guy who actually set up and ran the events. OMC Marketing guy, Barry Caris, oversaw OMC’s PR and promotional activity and co-ordinated the race setup with DeGrenier.
Charlie Strang
